Archives

September 2012

It's been a great summer so far, and as we head into fall, we look ahead to exciting new technology for the recording musician. Our September issue delivers the goods on a topic that's vital to the musicians we serve: The state of the DAW in 2012.

Nothing is constant but change, and music creation software today has to do different things than were expected of it even a few years ago. We gather the most important and trend-setting changes in the world of DAWs and lay them out in earily understood terms. This is combined with a first look at the most hotly-anticipated new DAW of the year-the mindblowing Auria, that provides multitrack recording, plug-ins, mixdown, drum replacement, and more... all on an iPad.

Our look at DAWs and music creation on iOS continues with reviews of portable-studio and multitrack recording apps, as well as a couple of extremely powerful sample-playback instruments with impressive onboard libraries. Look for reviews of products by Camel Audio, IK Multimedia, and Retronyms. And for your computer DAW, we review soundware from U-He, Cinematic Strings, Best Service, and more.

Away from the world of DAWs, there's a spread of fascinating articles, interviews and reviews for every recording musician. We look at new microphones from Audio-Technica and Cascade, a portable and affordable audio interface from Focusrite, and a hands-on test of Yamaha's powerful new 01V96i digital console/interface/control surface. Accomplished LA-based producer Jim Roach shares his secrets for bringing out the best in recorded performances. And Eric Ferguson takes us down the recording signal chain in Recording Fundamentals.

All this and more makes for a fascinating reading experience. Whether you're keen to know the newest DAW tech or eager for timeless knowledge on tracking and production, there's something to love in the September 2012 RECORDING!

Pick it up now on the newsstand... and so you get your next issue early (and save on cost), why not hit the big red Subscribe Now button on this page and have RECORDING delivered to your door each month?

Reviews

Auria raised a lot of eyebrows at last January's NAMM show when it was shown in early prototype form. A real multitrack DAW for the iPad, complete with third-party......Expand

The iPad's first fully-professional DAW... plug-ins and all.

Auria raised a lot of eyebrows at last January's NAMM show when it was shown in early prototype form. A real multitrack DAW for the iPad, complete with third-party plug-ins? It seemed impossible, or at least overly ambitious. Could Auria possibly do all it claimed?

In a stroke of good timing, just as we started production on our "DAWs of 2012" issue in early July 2012, the app came out of beta and was submitted to Apple for inclusion in the App Store. While the folks at WaveMachine Labs awaited Apple's approval, they were kind enough to provide John Rossi III with an advance copy to review. Auria has been approved and is now available on the App Store as of a few days before press time; we are pleased to bring you this early look at the app based on two weeks of tests. Take it away, John! -- Ed.

I've been dabbling in iDevices, and especially music applications that run on them, for several years now, and from my early iPod touch to my current iPad retina I have become enamored of the many useful and high-quality musical apps available to the iCommunity. Still, it was a major shock when, about two weeks ago, I received Auria from Rim Buntinas at WaveMachine Labs. If you don't know what Auria is, it is a full featured digital audio workstation (DAW) with 24-track simultaneous recording and 48-track playback. From the moment I turned it on, I was immediately convinced that this is the hottest musical app ever to make it to the iPad, and my conviction has only grown stronger through my initial tests...

The world's first mic that lets you choose between active convenience and passive character, with a flick of a switch.

While Royer's R-121 and the AEA R84 often get cited as the microphones that re-ignited the ribbon resurge......Expand

The world's first mic that lets you choose between active convenience and passive character, with a flick of a switch.

While Royer's R-121 and the AEA R84 often get cited as the microphones that re-ignited the ribbon resurgence of the past decade or so, an argument could be made that it was Cascade's distinctive Fat Head ribbon mic that helped fan the flames.

Back in 2005, amidst a sea of dirt-cheap (and cheap sounding) imports, the Fat Head enjoyed a healthy popularity. This was not only due to its manageable price and fine sound, but to the fact that Cascade was one of the first companies to offer a "personalized" mic experience. Users had multiple color and finish choices as well as in-house custom modifications with upgraded Cinemag and Lundahl transformers.

Two years later, Cascade introduced the Fat Head II, with a slightly larger body size, improved shockmount, a polished nickel grille, and again offered the Lundahl and Cinemag transformers as upgrade options.

Now the Fat Head has evolved again and we have the new Fat Head II Active/Passive ribbon microphone. What's new? Other than the capsule and head assembly... pretty much everything. So much so, I think, that they should have considered calling it the Fat Head III!...

For the firm's 50th Anniversary, a classic kick-drum mic makes a triumphant return.

It's not often that microphone companies resurrect discontinued models, but this month we take a fresh look at a classic and respected kick ......Expand

For the firm's 50th Anniversary, a classic kick-drum mic makes a triumphant return.

It's not often that microphone companies resurrect discontinued models, but this month we take a fresh look at a classic and respected kick drum microphone from Audio-Technica that has been given a new, if only temporary lease on life as part of Audio-Technica's 50th Anniversary celebration. That microphone is the ATM25/LE, where LE stands for "limited edition"...

It's hard to believe that it has been over 14 years since we introduced our readers to the original Yamaha 01V digital mixer (August 1998). Six years later, in our January 2004 issue, came the 01V96, reviewed by yours truly, and today I have the privilege of introducing its newest incarnation, the 01V96i.

The 01V is to digital mixers what the Mackie 1604 is to small-format analog boards, both in popularity and in longevity. We'll recap the details and specifics of the older models and focus primarily on what has been added since our last look...

Last year's cross-platform rollout was just the beginning: the newest Audition supports hugely improved workflow and adds much-requested features.

When I last covered Adobe Audition (the CS5.5 version in our October 2011 iss......Expand

Last year's cross-platform rollout was just the beginning: the newest Audition supports hugely improved workflow and adds much-requested features.

When I last covered Adobe Audition (the CS5.5 version in our October 2011 issue), it was fresh off the factory floor after a massive conversion effort to make it run cross-platform and to integrate it with Adobe's other media tools. Adobe has released a refresh of its software suite, and with it a new version of Audition.

The audio package has received its fair share of development, with a number of new features that caught my attention. Is it worth an upgrade? Let's take a look at the new features...

SampleTank for iPad is a Core MIDI and iOS 5 compliant professional-quality sound application for the iPad, produced and distributed by IK Multimedia. Sa......Expand

A full-featured sample player with a hefty library of classic sounds.

SampleTank for iPad is a Core MIDI and iOS 5 compliant professional-quality sound application for the iPad, produced and distributed by IK Multimedia. SampleTank for Mac/PC, and its niche-specific spinoffs (i.e., Sonik Synth, SampleTron, SampleMoog, and Miroslav Philharmonik) are still among the most revered sample manipulation products in the industry. SampleTank for iPad is a port to iOS of about 1 GB of material from the sound libraries of all of the IK Multimedia sample-based products, to be played, manipulated and controlled with an iPad-appropriate user interface.

Before getting on with the review I think it appropriate to mention that, although the product being evaluated is the SampleTank for iPad application, a functionally identical Universal iOS application called SampleTank for iPhone/iPod touch also exists. The only difference between the products lies in changes to the user interface that are necessitated by the reduced screen real estate of the handheld devices. Both are available at the App Store as a free version which gives you access to eight instruments and as a full version ($19.99) that comes with 136 instruments.

In addition, you can add in-app sample/instrument packs for $1.99 or $4.99 each that bring the instrument total to over 400 instruments. Finally, there is another option of purchasing all packs, which, when added to the Free version, gives you the whole shebang for $39.99. Since this is Recording magazine and not an iOS hobbyist publication, I'm reviewing the full-featured iPad product in the context of use by serious musicians/producers...

This composition studio for the iPad combines great tools with a fun and intuitive layout.

Retronyms has taken a fun and easy-to-understand approach to the idea of a "studio you can tuck under your arm" with Tabletop, a very......Expand

This composition studio for the iPad combines great tools with a fun and intuitive layout.

Retronyms has taken a fun and easy-to-understand approach to the idea of a "studio you can tuck under your arm" with Tabletop, a very cool collection of musicmaking tools arranged on, well, a tabletop. Let's rummage around and see what we find.

Tabletop comes from the App Store as a free download, which includes 11 Devices as of the current version (1.51 as we went to press). You can then purchase other Devices piecemeal as in-app purchases, up to a full complement of 27 different gizmos. Doing some rough math, it'd cost you around $60 to get everything at current prices, but you don't have to bite that bullet all at once. With in-app purchasing making it easy to add a box here and there, you can work your way up gradually, while ignoring Devices that hold no interest for you...

Best known for classic recording desks and the renowned ISA and Red Ranges of mic pres, eqs and compressors, England's Focusrite has also built a solid reputation in the world of audio interfaces.

This month we take a look at their entry-level Scarlett 2i2. As its name implies the 2i2 is a 2-in/2-out USB 2.0 audio interface. Considering the abundance of inexpensive stereo audio interfaces on the market, what makes the Scarlett 2i2 stand out? Read on!...

An iPad-friendly user interface and remote control of the Mac/PC version of Alchemy makes this app a head-turner.

If you've been around the PC and Mac VSTi scene for any length of time, you may know about (or already own) Ca......Expand

An iPad-friendly user interface and remote control of the Mac/PC version of Alchemy makes this app a head-turner.

If you've been around the PC and Mac VSTi scene for any length of time, you may know about (or already own) Camel Audio's flagship synthesizer Alchemy. We reviewed it in our February 2010 issue and took a look at some of the separately-purchasable sound libraries for Alchemy and the more editing-limited free Alchemy Player in our June 2012 issue.

Camel Audio has just released Alchemy Mobile, a portable version, which begs the following question: How does one shrink one of the deepest synthesizers on the market, with its multi-Gigabyte library, into a 127 MB app for use on an iOS device? Let's go find out...

U-He (shorthand for the main coder's name, Urs Heckmann) should be no stranger to the readers of Recording. We've previously reviewed the MFM2 and Uhbik effects proces......Expand

U-He Diva; Cinematic Strings 2.0; Best Service Galaxy X.

U-He (shorthand for the main coder's name, Urs Heckmann) should be no stranger to the readers of Recording. We've previously reviewed the MFM2 and Uhbik effects processors and the mighty Zebra 2 synth, and now the U-He synthesizer line has expanded once again with Diva.

Diva (short for Dinosaur Impersonating Virtual Analog) is a semi-modular virtual analog synthesizer in VSTi and AU format that emulates the various components of some great classic analogs from yesteryear. But before you dismiss it as "just another VA", do yourself a favor and keep reading...

Read more (and learn about our other soundware in review) in the September 2012 issue of RECORDING!

Interviews

An established producer in the tough but rewarding Los Angeles music scene discusses the musical tools and people skills that brought him success.

Jim Roach is a Los Angeles-based producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentali......Expand

An established producer in the tough but rewarding Los Angeles music scene discusses the musical tools and people skills that brought him success.

Jim Roach is a Los Angeles-based producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is also a label head, running Red Parade, a company that focuses on gifted artists who have that special "something" that seems so elusive, yet is so indispensable in the current climate of overproduced major-label fare, and sometimes under-produced home-made material.

Two of his artists, Jesse Thomas and The Young Romans, perfectly reflect Jim's high standards. His recordings struck us as clean, yet organic; pure yet sophisticated. The vocals shine through, and the instrumentation is never in the way; the right balance is always struck. In short: great recordings, great songs, and great performances dressed in pristine productions.

In addition, Roach is a major player in the songs-made-for-the-screen world, through a publishing agreement with Dave Jordan.

Jim was kind enough to invite Recording into his brand-new Burbank studio to share some of his insights. Won't you follow us in?...

Features

Today's DAWs are going places and doing things that were unheard of even a few years ago. A look at the hottest trends and future directions in the DAW world.

As music recording technology changes, so do our expectations of ......Expand

Today's DAWs are going places and doing things that were unheard of even a few years ago. A look at the hottest trends and future directions in the DAW world.

As music recording technology changes, so do our expectations of what a digital audio workstation should do. DAWs of 2012 bear only a vague resemblance to the MIDI sequencer programs (with audio tacked on in separate applications if it was there at all) of the 1990s, and no resemblance at all to the multi-thousand-dollar hardware-based monstrosities with custom keyboards and monitors that we meant when we said "DAW" in the 1980s.

In 2012, we now have DAWs that do things that were impossible even a few years ago, run on devices that didn't exist a few years ago, and communicate with the music-making world in ways that would have seemed like science fiction a few years ago... in fact, the whole concept of a DAW needing to communicate with the outside world is something that's relatively new!

Let's take a moment to consider how your music-recording experience can be enhanced and your creativity boosted by innovations found among the DAWs of 2012...

How audio gets from the room to your recorder is a complex process, and understanding it is key to getting the best sounds you can. Let's get started!

Understanding signal flow is like riding a bike. It's difficult to learn,......Expand

How audio gets from the room to your recorder is a complex process, and understanding it is key to getting the best sounds you can. Let's get started!

Understanding signal flow is like riding a bike. It's difficult to learn, takes significant practice, and then one day, bam, you got it! As a long time engineer, I rarely get stumped by signal flow anymore, as facing complicated consoles and troubleshooting equipment interconnection long ago became second nature. As an audio educator, however, I am reminded regularly how foreign signal flow can seem to beginners. Unfortunately, as challenging as it may be, signal flow must be learned by anyone wishing to work with audio. This month we'll tackle the basics...

A blow-by-blow account of how a quartet session in a studio tracking room became a beautiful series of music videos... format issues, digital clapboards, dollar signs and all.

In the August issue you read all about the making of Bruce Kaphan's CD Quartet. We didn't have space for the story of the video shoot that took place during the tracking of three of the tunes. Here it is, in great detail.

Anyone can shoot a so-so video -- the internet is witness to that. But if shooting a quality music video is of interest to you, and you've been wondering how it's done and how much it might cost, read on. We're indebted to Bruce for allowing us this look behind the scenes. -- LzR

When I summoned up my courage, collected a pile of cash, and booked Mark Needham and Fantasy Studios for a live tracking date, I knew we would have to perform well and quickly -- it was going to be the first time ever when all four musicians would be playing together at the same time. So I began a ferocious practice schedule.

These days, releasing just a plain old audio album has become passe'. Despite the pressure it would add in the studio, I decided to shoot video at this session too. Since I can't shoot video and play pedal steel and direct at the same time, I called my old friend and former bandmate David Cilberti...

Being a great engineer is no easy task. There's a lot to do. Sometimes we get involved in one aspect of engineering while completely ignoring other things that are painfully obvious......Expand

Engineering Quiz -- How Do You Measure Up?

Being a great engineer is no easy task. There's a lot to do. Sometimes we get involved in one aspect of engineering while completely ignoring other things that are painfully obvious to our clients. As we strive to get better at what we do, let's take a step back and ask ourselves, how good are we, really? Here's a list of things required of a great engineer. How do you measure up? (Don't tell me, I don't need to know... but you do.)...